In an interview today (Friday), Israel’s Minister of Transport and Intelligence Yisrael Katz said that the Defense Minister’s statements that we are “closer than ever” to reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians are a personal and wrong interpretation.

“I find no basis for his statement that we are closer than ever to an agreement,” Katz said and added that Israel must clarify to the US that it will not evacuate the settlements. “We must make an official decision and inform the US that Israel will never evacuate the settlements.”

In addition, Katz referred to the report that Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will temporarily waive the demand for freezing the construction of settlements in the West Bank: “Abbas understands that Trump’s position is the start of negotiations without preconditions.”